You Can't Win Anything With Kids

THE 1995-96 SEASON was one of the most remarkable in recent memory.On the eve of Euro '96, it provided one of the most memorable title races English football has ever seen and a Cup Final more memorable for the attire of one of the teams than the match itself. It seems a strange land now as British players and managers still dominated and foreign players were limited to one or two per club.Manchester United had won the title in 1993 and 1994 but by August 1995 fans were calling for manager Alex Ferguson's resignation following the sales of Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis. A defeat at Aston Villa in their first league game of the season prompted Alan Hansen to utter the immortal phrase “You can't win anything with kids” and he wasn't the only one to dismiss Ferguson's men.With Eric Cantona still suspended following his attack on a Crystal Palace fan earlier in the year and Newcastle storming into a 10 point lead, United's young team looked anything but champions. Yet by season's end Hansen was left looking shame-faced.Wayne Barton recalls the twists and turns of a season that saw controversy, mind games, television outbursts, divine interventions and the return of a legend.